listing and airdates BMEG season by season "Biker Knights of the Round Table Part One" "Biker Knights of the Round Table Part Two" "Virtual UnReality" "Pitfall" "Diet of Worms" "Rocketh and Rideth" "Too Many Limburgers Spoil the Cheese" "Hit the Road, Jack" "Caveat Mentor" "Where No Mouse Has Gone Before" "Once Upon a Time On Mars Part One" "Once Upon a Time On Mars Part Two" "Once Upon a Time On Mars Part Three" INTRODUCTION         In its third and final season, "Biker Mice" returned to a weekly format, with thirteen episodes to its credit, among these a pair of multi-part episodes. With "Fantastic Four" and "Iron Man," "Biker Mice" became part of the "Marvel Action Universe," formerly the "Marvel Action Hour." Whether or not it boosted the show's ratings is unknown. However, the characters of the show did make brief cameos in "Fantastic Four." On one occasion, the Thing (Ben Grimm) is seen reading one of the "Biker Mice" comic books. On another, the shape-changing alien Mr. Impossible transforms briefly into a Lawrence Limburger look-alike. OVERVIEW         This final season was one of experimentation, with new locales and characters in nearly every episode. The travelogue begins with the two-part opening of the series, "Biker Knights of the Round Table," which sent the mice back to Arthurian England. By way of an accidental teleportation, "Where No Mouse Has Gone Before" took our fuzzy heroes to Plutark for a scathing political satire. Want mice in tights? Check out "Rocketh and Rideth," in which the mice follow Limburger into a book of Shakespeare's plays and take on the roles of characters in "Hamlet," "Romeo and Juliet," "Julius Caesar," and "Macbeth." Finally, "Once Upon a Time On Mars," the final three episodes, took place almost entirely in flashbacks, telling the story of the three young Biker Mice battling Plutarkians in their early days as Freedom Fighters.         The cast expanded with both new good guys and new bad guys. First up is Stoker, the Biker Mice's mentor and the former leader of the Freedom Fighters, who arrives on Earth with Rimfire in "Caveat Mentor." Once Mars' greatest biker and idol of Throttle, Modo, and Vinnie, Stoker has slipped in the last several years, and he's just aching for a chance to prove himself. Unfortunately, doing so might end up getting his former pupils killed. Fortunately for those of us who fell in love with Stoker at first sight, a chance to see him in full bloom arises out of "Once Upon a Time On Mars," when he's still at his peak. He's got really cool hair. "Once Upon a Time On Mars" introduces a number of other mice. Harley, the Freedom Fighters' lovely female mechanic/nurse, appears as Vinnie's first unrequited love. He turns into mush around her. As if that weren't bad enough, Stoker also has strong feelings for Harley, resulting in a love triangle with a decidedly tragic outcome. Carbine's commander in the Army, Sgt. Scabbard is a more minor character. Straight-laced and dedicated to order, Scabbard dislikes the wild, unruly tactics of the Freedom Fighters, particularly when said tactics show up his troops. He and Stoker almost end up in a fistfight in Part One.         Speaking of romantic foils for Vinnie, one of Charley's old beaus pops up in the Windy City: computer hacker extraordinaire "Asphalt" Jack McCyber (yes, the mice make fun of his nick-name). While only friends now, McCyber and Charley had a long romantic past, although it's not explored in depth in either his debut episode, "Virtual UnReality," or his second appearance, "Hit the Road, Jack." Jack gets a fiancée in the latter episode, but don't expect to hear wedding bells anytime soon.         Even with all these allies, the mice will have their work cut out for them this season. Five new Plutarkians are introduced, and three of them in the same episode! Gutama Gouda, One-Eyed Jack Monterrey, and Gerald Gruyere show up in Chicago to help lay the groundwork for the Plutarkian invasion of Earth in "Diet of Worms." Each is the boss of a different city, and are in competition for the position of Planetary Governor once the attack is underway (Limburger, however, isn't just going to sit back and miss this chance for ultimate advancement…). Later, the first female Plutarkian boss appears, Romana Parmesana of Cleveland, who is also vying for the Planetary Governorship.         Luckily, the last of the fish-faces to appear is one from the mice's past, not their present. Dominic T. Stilton was one of the Plutarkians-in-residence on Mars during the Plutarkian War (and may in reality have been in charge of the entire planet). Germ-phobic and haughty, Stilton quite successfully manages the pillaging of Mars, although his mishandling of his young apprentice, an inexperienced fry named Lawrence Limburger, leads to the failure of the Tug Transformer Plan. Karbunkle is also one of Stilton's former employees.         One of the most interesting villains of the season is Mace. The orange-furred Freedom Fighter turns out to be a traitor to the cause in more ways than one. While he appears to be a mouse, he's actually a rat, one who has been feeding information to the Plutarkians for quite some time. While he appears only in "Once Upon a Time On Mars," Mace's influence on the Biker Mice has lasted to the present day, particularly with regards to Vinnie. He'd be a much more interesting villain if he were actually a mouse, but que sera, sera. ANIMATION         Episodes in the third season were basically all well-animated. Apparently, cutting back the number of episodes for the seasons helped. The best overall are probably the "Once Upon a Time on Mars" episodes. However, the animators also deserve a big hardy "kudos" for "Rocketh and Rideth," where, despite the large number of costume changes, the mice never once ended up in the wrong clothing.         The biggest change in animation for this season was in the amount of color used. Generally, the colors used in "Biker Mice" were on a bit of a restricted pallet. Lots of grays for the city, with limited amounts of green, and subdued colors throughout. In the final season, though, colors are brighter overall, and the mice's forays into more rural locales (England, the edge of the city, etc.) tended to use more green. This trend was reversed In the "Once Upon a Time On Mars" trilogy, where reds, oranges, and brown were the major colors used, and colors were more subdued. Frankly, it was a relief on the eyes.         Fans of the Mook animated episode from Season Two, "Vicious Cycles," will enjoy "Pitfall," which was done by the same studio. There are fewer flaws in this one, and some shots (Modo shooting the mouse-head grenade, for example) are absolutely fantastic. Colors are even brighter here than the rest of the season's episodes. EPISODES NOT TO MISS         So much of Season Three is great that it's hard to pick which episodes you absolutely have to see. Here are my top three: "Once Upon a Time On Mars" Parts One through Three         Best animation, best story. Emotion really comes through in this arc: the helplessness and frustration the characters feel is almost palpable in places. "Rocketh and Rideth"         Hilarious, surprisingly well-done Shakespeare homage. Throttle in a kilt. "Hit the Road, Jack"         What does Jack McCyber's engagement to the beautiful and mysterious Angel Revson have to do with Limburger and Brie's turf war? "Caveat Mentor"         First Stoker; Rimfire gets kidnapped again. The mice catch a glimpse of their own mortality. Main basic information episodes in-depth fun MAIN